ASUS Radeon HD 3850 & 3870

Conclusion:

When starting these Linux benchmarks of the Radeon HD 3850 and
Radeon HD 3870 we really didn't know what to expect. On Windows, the Radeon HD
3870 is able to outperform the NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT in a number of benchmarks and both
the 3850 and 3870 have received many acclaims from various Windows publications.
After looking over these Linux results today, we are impressed by the capabilities
of the Radeon HD 3850 and Radeon HD 3870. Only in the most demanding tests was
there a noticeable performance delta between the EAH3850 and EAH3870, but in all
of the benchmarks, these two graphics cards were much stronger than the Radeon
HD 2600PRO. Furthermore, in all but one case the Radeon HD 3870 was faster than the Radeon
HD 2900XT and the Radeon HD 3850 had even outperformed the 2900XT on
Linux in some scenarios. However, it is important to note that the EAH3850 TOP and EAH3870 TOP are factory-overclocked.

ATI's Linux drivers aren't yet perfected on their
new code-base, but they have been making some great progress in recent months
and we suspect that the performance of the HD 3850/3870 will increase slightly
over the coming months. While it will be tough for the Radeon HD 3870 to outperform
the GeForce 8800GT 512MB on Linux, after the much-improved NVIDIA
169.04 beta driver, the Radeon HD 3850 and Radeon HD 3870 both have the advantage
of having official open-source support (in the near future) through the RadeonHD
driver.

We will draw our final conclusions after additional Radeon HD
3800 series Linux testing has commenced, but thus far, we are very pleased with
the Radeon HD 3850 and Radeon HD 3870. Under Linux these cards are able to compete
with and (to some surprise) outperform the Radeon HD 2900XT and have no problems handling
the latest Linux-native title, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars with strenuous
settings. Either of these graphics cards should also have no problems running
with Unreal Tournament 3, once the Linux client has been released. Of course,
both graphics cards can easily handle the latest Compiz Fusion accelerated desktop
effects as well.

At under $200 USD for the ASUS EAH3850 and $250 USD for the ASUS
EAH3870, both of them offer a great value. If you're just a casual gamer and want
to upgrade right now, the Radeon HD 3850 should work out great. If you have
a bit more money to spend and will be utilizing a higher resolution display with
advanced graphical settings, the Radeon HD 3870 will perform slightly better.
On the other hand, if you are after a graphics card to keep for the long haul, you may want to wait
a bit and see how ATI and NVIDIA's Linux drivers pan out over the next few driver
releases as we continue with our benchmarking. Regarding the ASUS EAH3850 TOP and
EAH3870 TOP they are both great packages that will give you maximum performance,
though the included game (Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts) will likely go to
waste until it works with WINE.
Both of these ASUS graphics cards were also very quiet during operation with PowerPlay
support.

If you have any additional questions about the Radeon HD 3800
series on Linux, be sure to stop by the Phoronix
Forums.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the web-site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience and being the largest web-site devoted to Linux hardware reviews, particularly for products relevant to Linux gamers and enthusiasts but also commonly reviewing servers/workstations and embedded Linux devices. Michael has written more than 10,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics hardware drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated testing software. He can be followed via Twitter and Google+ or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.